


\%-*Z 




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8 






TO THE FRIENDS OF 



AFRICAN COLONIZATION, 



Alexander & Barnard, Printers. 



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AN APPEAL 



TO THE 






rams ©f im mwmmnm sieoiw, 

BEING THE SUBSTANCE OF A STATEMENT OF FACTS, PRESENTED AT A . 
PCBLIC MEETING, HELD IN THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN 

CHURCH, SABBATH EVENING, MAY 8, 1842, fy iV^ Q^- 



fcv 



BY HON. IV. Lf ELLSWORTH, 

ONE OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE AMERICAN COT.ON1 7. ATION SOCIETY, 



[VIv Friends— I come before yon as one of the Executive Committee . 
of the American Colonization Society. My heart is too deeply oppressed 
with the difficulties which embarrass us, too full of anxiety for apology. 1 
come not as a beggar ; I come to make a simple statement of facts ; to ask 
you to share in our responsibility, and decide what is to he done. It has 
already been mentioned that 200 emigrants are urging their way to then- 
native land, and are soon to be arrested only by the broad ocean which se- 
parates them from Africa. Yon may perhaps ask, Why have the Execu- 
tive Committee permitted such, an occurrence, a conscription, as it. were, 
on the charity of the community? 

In reply let me say, that your Committee could not, and if they could 
thev would not dare prevent it. You yourselves would not have done so, 
unless T am greatly wrong in my estimate of your hearts ; and when you 
hear the facts 1 shall lay before you, I trust you will i'xeute us from all 
blame. 

Look then at the position of the Committee. We arc only the execu- 
tive instruments of your will to carry out your benevolent and humane pur- 
poses. Twenty years ago the Colonization Society was established with, 
the concurrent approbation of the General Government, the State Gov- 
ernments, patriots throughout the land, and with the prayers of the most 
devoted and ardent Christians. The wants of the Government for an asy- 
lum for re-captured Africans ; the wishes and the hopes of emancipated 
slaves in this country; the desire of the States to free themselves from 
the dangers arising from two classes of colored men. one in bondage and 
the other free ; a sympathy for poor Africa herself oppressed by the hor- 
lors of the slave trade, and a stranger to the God of Heaven— all these 
combined to establish this Society. It was done, and the hopes of many 
brightened. A little band was planted on the inhospitable shores of a 
barbarous coast, now called by the delightful appellation of Liberia. From 



■ 




Ml!. I'.i.LS WORTH'S APPEAL 



the founding of the Colony until the present moment, the efforts oi :<<, 
ciety have been directed to encourage the free people of color to remow 
hence to that Colony — for it was never designed to use any compulsiojP— 
and also to procure funds to defray the necessary expenses. Embarrass- 
ments, as you are aware, have arisen, and the way has often times been 
hemmed up. The little Colony has*however, been mercifully preserved, 
and both master and servant have been assured of our willingness and de- 
sire to gratify their wishes. Nay further, bequests have been made to the 
Society ; the dying charge of several persons are on its records. In most 
of the cases freedom is given only on condition of emigrating to Africa. 
The fears of some, that emigrants could not be found, has thus been re- 
moved. A new era has arrived; our mails are crowded with applications 
to your Committee ; a mighty torrenthas burst forth. They come atyour 
bidding, and wait your direction. They come with a joyful heart, hoping 
soon to see their fatherland ; they come with a longing desire to embark 
under your kind patronage. Yes ! onward they come ; they seem to be 
messengers of peace and salvation to a benighted region of the world. 
Will you stay them in their homeward passage ? 

Night after night, my friends, your Committee meet to hear their sup- 
plications. I assure you that the festivities which many appear to enjoy 
have no charms for me. I know I cannot do much ; but whatever punc- 
tuality and unremitting services, however humble, can do is already most 
willingly consecrated to this canse, And now look at the situation of your 
Committee. They must feel — they do feel for the woes of others who beg 
relief. But we cannot work miracles; we can only use human means, 
What appeal can we make that will prove effectual ? 

If there is an object of sympathy in this wide world, it is the African, 
torn from his native land, separated from all that he loved, transferred amid 
the horrors of a gloomy passage in a slave ship to a foreign shore, and there 
held to bondage ; and who at last for his honest servitude is offered his 
freedom or who by untiring labor has bought himself, and now makes his 
single, humble, suppliant request to be permitted and aided to return 
home to die. If he is poor, it is not because he is indolent ; his task was 
done, his duty performed; his hard earnings have been for his master; 
and he is penniless because he spent his all to become free. Read his joy, 
that the happy time has arrived when he no longer wears the yoke of bond- 
age. happy thought ! what bright anticipations now fill his heart. 
He tells us that he is ready to embark, and inquires, how soon will a ship 
sail for Africa? What is our reply ? We direct the Secretary to inform 
him that we deeply sympathize in his disappointment, but we cannot send 
him — we have no funds. Such, my friends, is our daily reply to pressing 
applications ; and what do we get in return ? Expressions of regret, dis- 
appointment and despair. The freedom purchased or bestowed is held 
only on condition of removal within a definite time. Sad thought! upon 
this contingency rests the question of his return to bondage for the re- 
mainder of life ! Poor and friendless they come to us — what can we do ? 
Can we go on and incur obligations which we have no present means of 
discharging? Yes, my friends, we have done so; we could not resist 
such appeals. Humanity cries aloud — he has served long enough. We 
encourage him to hope for relief, and we try to raise some means for his 
aid. 
There is another appeal to us as Christians. It comes from a native 



MR. ELLSWORTH'S APPEAL. 3 

African. He shows the scars which his manacles have made and which 
time cannot efface. He tells his story of woe, yet murmurs not. It is 
God who has permitted it. He bows to his condition ; he rejoices at the 
goodness of One who, he hopes, has redeemed him from a bondage worse 
than that of slavery— the bondage of sin. No revengeful word is on his 
lips ; he says that the grave will be the common master for us all without 
distinction, and that we shall arise alike to a glorious immortality. He asks 
not for lands or for money ; he»sees how poor Africa is situated — poor, 
heathen Africa ; he feels the dying injunction of his Heavenly master, 
" Go preach my Gospel to every creature." He tells us that the while 
man soon dies on the shores of' Africa, but God has given him a constitu- 
tion tempered for that clime. His prayer to us— the earnest pleadings of 
his heart is, " Let me go to proclaim to millions in darkness and in the 
shadow of death the goodness and mercy of my God." To such an ap- 
peal what can we reply ? We ask you, my friends, shall we shut up our 
bowels of compassion, tell him we have no means — we can raise none, 
and compel him to remain forever in servitude here, cheered only by the 
brighter promise of a future world, with the sole privilege, which, thank 
God ! no fetters or bondage can take away or restrain, a secret prayer for 
his native land I 

You may perhaps say, Can such things be ? Permit me in reply to 
read you a single letter selected from many of a similar character. 

" Gallatin County, Cypressville, Illinois, 

" September 19, 1841.. 
" S. Wilkeson, Eso_. — Sir : — Yours of the 21st Aug. has eome to hand. 
We calculated to pay our passage by the assistance of Mr. Fagg, one of 
the agents for the Society, but he has failed to assist us. There are 18 of 
us that will go, and we'are utterly unable to pay our passage. The 18 
consist of 3 families, myself and wife and 4 children, Rufus Jacobs, his 
wife and 4 children, Redic B. Smith and 1 child, my wife's sister, Malina 
Porter, a single woman, Jerome Crofuld, a single man, Joseph Allen, a 
sintrle man, and an old man, a native of Africa, named John. We all 
wish to go to Liberia, and are not able to pay our passage. If the So- 
ciety can send us, we are willing to refund the amount in labor or produce 
when we are able. 

" We are ready to start from Shawneetown at any moment, and wish the 
tune to come as soon as possihle ; for though we are free in name we are not 
free in fact. — We are in as bad, or worse condition than the slaves of 
which you speak, being compelled to leave the State, or give security, and 
those of the whites who would befriend us are debarred by the fear of 
public opinion. If only those who deserve such treatment, if any do, were 
the only ones to suffer we should be content ; but on the contrary if one 
misbehaves, all the colored people in the neighborhood are the sufferers, 
and that frequently by unlawful means ; dragged from our beds at the hour 
of midnight, stripped naked, in presence of our children and wives, by a 
set of men alike lost to mercy decency and Christianity, and flogged till 
they are satisfied, before we know for what ; and when we are informed, 
it is the probably' the first time we heard of the offence. Such is our situ- 
ation and such the condition from which your Society can extricate us. 
We deem it worse than slavery. We say again we wish to go to Liberia, 
and if no way else is provided, we had as lief soon indent ourselves to 



4 MR. ELLSWORTH'S APPEAL. 

the Society for life for our passage, so we can live among our own color. 
Let me know as soon as possible, whether you can help us, and how soon, 
and how much. Times are so hard here, that property will not bring half 
its value. We have disposed of what little we had, with the calculation 
that Mr. Fagg would assist us : perhaps if you would stimulate him to 
help us, it would be some advantage. We want to know what assistance 
your Society will give us, after we get there." 

" Yours, respectfully," 

" MARVILL H. SMITH." 

Here, my friends, you see is the case of 18 persons. They have been 
emancipated ; they were obliged to leave the State in which they served, and 
where could they go ? They sought a temporary resting place, an asylum 
in a free state. How have they been persecuted ! The emigrant tells 
you his simple and affecting story of wrong and outrage. Among these 
you will notice is a native African, who in his old age has obtained his 
freedom and ardently desires to see Africa once more before he dies. — 
Perchance some that he knew and loved, he may find yet spared from the 
clutches of the ruthless gang that tore him away. And now what could 
we reply to this letter? Must we dash to the earth their present hopes ? 
We were compelled to do it. — We said, for the present, no. Emigrants were 
crowding upon us ; old debts, not large indeed, but imperative, urged for 
payment. We did indeed encourage them to hope for relief at some fu- 
ture time, we could not tell when or how. And when they found then- 
condition there worse than slavery or death itself, and heard of the possibil- 
ity of a passage to Africa from New Orleans, though we had told them to 
to wait till further notice, they gathered their little all and jumped into a 
bout bound for that city. Will you, can you blame them for it? Alas! 
when they reached New Orleans no vessel was there ; our expected ex- 
pedition failed. These poor dependent creatures then cast themselves in 
their misery upon the friends of the Colonization Society ; they have been 
transported to Norfolk and there they wait in anxious hope to sail soon for 
Africa. It remains for you my friends to say whether they shall go. 

I will mention further, that our agent in Tennessee, was expressly in- 
formed by us, that we had no means to transport emigrants and none 
must come to Norfolk except such as were provided with funds to meet 
all their expenses. But the spirit of emigration that has been aroused 
cannot be repressed, and a few days since we received a letter informing us 
that 86 were on their way. Some of them had money and some had not ; 
some had horses and wagons, others were coming on foot ; their little all, 
whatever it might be, was to be disposed of when they reached Norfolk. 
There they remain with fond hopes and ardent aspirations for their native 
land, They possess good characters ; some are artisans, some agricul- 
turists, some arc prepared to be teachers and a few to preach the Gospel. 
Among them arc the friends and relations of that valuable and heroic 
citizen of Liberia, Zion Harris, who is now in this country pleading the 
cause of the Colony. The death of the Rev. Mr. Erskine, his father-in- 
law was an affecting incident. Willing and ready to die he left one re- 
quest, that his son would, should providence permit, once visit Tennes- 
see and bring to Africa the surviving relatives left behind, so far as they 
could be obtained. God has prospered the errand of love and mercy. By 
the kindness of their masters, the assistance of friends and his persuasion, 
Harris returns to Africa with thirteen of his kindred What shall we 



MR. ELLSWORTH'S APPEAL. 5 

say to them my friends ? Shall they spend their little all to return again 
to bondage? You must decide. 

And, my Christian friends, there is a company of 8 Africans from the 
Osage Mission on the confines of civilization in the far West. They 
come with hearts warm and glowing from that altar where many a morn- 
ing and evening sacrifice has been offered up for poor Africa ; they come 
to beg a passage, as it were, in the name of their divine master. May I say, 
that 1 shall never forget that devoted mission station. It was there where 
many years since I met those who now ask our aid. It was there that 
the wild Indians whom I had brought from near the foot of the Rocky 
Mountains first saw how the white man was taught to read and write ; there 
for the first time they heard in a Christian assembly of the white man's 
Cod, and there they implored those blessings from their great father (the 
President) which the African now asks for his native land. We had tra- 
veled many hundred miles together ; sickness and other trials had endear- 
ed us to each other. The time of the final separation had come : I was 
to go where the sun rises ; they to the place where it sets. Believing as 
they do, that the truth is not spoken when the sun does not shine on the 
heart, the farewell was postponed for a clear sky. They met in a crowded 
group, threw oil' the buffalo robes, their homely covering, and one of 
their number thus addressed me : " My Grandfather, the sky is clear. 
Tin' great spirit sees me, the earth on which I stand hears me ; the truth 
is spoken. You have brought us to see our enemies, (the Delewares) we 
have feasted on the white man's heart ; we have made peace and smoked 
together ; the hatchet and the knife that was sharpened for scalps, shall 
now be buried deep in the ground, and the Aveeds shall grow over them. 
You come from the big waters and return again. You will see our great 
father. Tell him we are his children; we are poor, the buffaloes are fast 
disappearing and the white men are catching our beavers ; we cannot raise 
corn, we have no tools, ask him to remember us and to help us : tell him, 
my grandfather, that the prairie hen puts her wings over her chickens and 
broods them ; ask him to put his wings over us." Pardon me this digres- 
sion. The association of the event with the Osage Mission station and the 
similarity of the wild Indian's plea to that of the poor African was such L 
could scarcely avoid it. I return then to the colored family from this Mis- 
sion. Your Oommit1ae v\ as forced to refuse them a passage unless means 
were provided ; some contributions were made to reimburse, in part, the ex- 
pense, and they have now come for a passage. Shall they go ? You will 
decide. 

Another case of thrilling interest is that of a father who has struggled 
on through life, and, having obtained his own emancipation has purchased 
six of his children ; and only waits till he can redeem two more. His sole 
hope and desire is to return to Africa. What will you say with regard to 
him ? 

Let me mention one case more ; It is that of the humane and liberal 
McDonough of New Orleans, a name Long to beendeared to Liberia, lie 
offered your Committee eighty slaves — persons of good character, black- 
smiths, carpenters, masons, ship-builders, sugar makers, agriculturists, &c. 
He desired to teach them and lit them for their mission to their kindre 
friends ; lie applied to lite Legislature for permission to instruct them, b 
knowledge is power, ami cannotbe entrusted to the slave ; and the reque 
was denied. Ask them, however, to read and they will do so; ask them 



:;; 

PSt 



: 



6 MR. ELLSWORTH'S APPEAL. 

to write and they understand this also. Inquire not further; some of 
them are competent to teach schools ; many of them are professing Chris- 
tians. Connected with this number are two others who are now pursuing 
their theological studies in Pennsylvania preparatory to their departure 
for Africa. One of them will go soon ; the other when he completes his 
studies, and has made himself master of the Latin, Greek, Hebrew and 
Arabic languages ; in some of which he has already made great proficien- 
cy. O, how these emigrants will gladden the hearts of the desponding 
Colony of Liberia. What could we say to them ? Should we say that 
we could not let them go ? We have bidden them come ; we have com- 
mitted their case and all the other cases to God ; we have chartered a ship 
to take them to their desired port amidst a thousand aspirations which 
neither you nor I can feel. Such are the claims which the colored men 
in our own country themselves prefer. 

I ask now your consideration of the claims of our little Colony. By 
every arrival from there we learn her wants and her trials. Surrounded 
by a savage foe who are goaded on by infuriated slave traders, because 
for three hundred miles their path is blocked up ; without vessels for trans- 
portation, if her people were disposed to flee from their numerous assail- 
ants, we may well wonder and ask, How has she been preserved ? Many 
have been the conflicts of her children, and where has bravery been better 
exhibited ? Those who have fallen have died like freemen, who weje 
once slaves and preferred death to a second bondage. This Colony has 
been planted by the the General Government of the country, with the aid 
of the several States, and of individuals. Little did those who first em- 
barked under your kind auspices ever think they would be thus forgotten ; 
much less that they would be abandoned. But, my friends, what is their 
condition ; they are in want, they need many things. They need houses, 
and how can these houses be erected? No saw mills are provided, 
though water-power and timber are both convenient. Even now your 
Committee are shipping lumber by every opportunity across the ocean to 
make them comfortable and to provide accommodations for new emigrants. 
This is done at a great expense ; but we have no means with which to 
erect mills. Your Colony, too, needs arms and munitions of war. Their 
condition is hard indeed ; exposed and defenceless, they ask us to send 
them some guns. We have no means ; we have entreated the communi- 
ty in their behalf, but almost in vain ; little has lately been given to in- 
crease our funds. We have tried to purchase these necessaries, but we 
have no credit, and our name, alas ! is dishonored. We have tried to 
beg, but without success. As a last resort we have borrowed for a time 
two mounted guns and a few small arms ; not however, without a sacred 
pledge on our part to return them when demanded. The arsenal and maga- 
zines of our happy country are crowded with munitions of .war. Why is 
it, that this Colony, which does so much to ameliorate the condition of 
men, and to suppress the slave trade, cannot be gratified in so reasonable 
a request ? All they ask is little ; but this little would make them rich in- 
deed, and ourselves no poorer. 

Look at Liberia, my friends ; what was U ? The favorite mart of the 
ave dealer ; the paths of the captives yet remain well trodden ; the shores 

ve long been bleached by the bones of human beings who perished 
lere while waiting the arrival of cruel masters. Yet all has become 
changed. Yes, my friends, it is a fact, that where the slave factories once 



MK. ELLSWORTH'S APPEAL. 7 

stood arc now seen no less than eighteen churches consecrated to al- 
mighty God. Where pens were erected to confine the unhappy victims, 
you may now find schools and seminaries of learning, surrounded by 
highly cultivated fields, and loaded with the most luxuriant vegetation. 
Nature there is prolific: in no part of the world can the wants of man be 
more easily satisfied. The climate is mild and there are no winters ; the 
earth yields most abundantly coffee, rice, cotton, sugar, maize or Indian 
corn, wheat and vegetables without number ; the forests are fdled with 
palm from Which oil is obtained in vast quantities. Camwood too, abounds, 
with a variety of other dyewoods and spices ; the annual exports now 
exceed $100,000 ; and were the Colony fostered by our Government, how 
extensive a trade might be established, should roads be opened into the 
interior which has already been explored for 160 miles. Populous vil- 
lages are sometimes found ; one of them containing not less than 5,000 
persons, on a single peak, picketted in by rude slabs. I pray that the 
time may come when the Committee will be able to extend to the willing 
natives some facilities of intercourse. At present the objects of trade are 
transported only on the backs of men. Need I tell you how much the 
Colony has already done ; how much it has cheered and supported the 
tribes most contiguous to the settlement? You will find the native children 
in every school, learning with astonishing rapidity, destined soon to teach 
others and carry the Gospel far into the interior. Every day the belief is 
extending that this little Colony is established for the good of Africa. The 
natives say, that there is some great and good being that watches over and 
protects it; or else before this it would have fallen. Yes, the poor trem- 
bling African flees to your little Colony for protection. But lately a ves- 
sel hove in sight beyond the confines of our territory ; the slave dealer's 
placard was hoisted. " A cargo of able bodied men wanted ; the highest 
price will be given." Till then a momentary respite had existed, and 
peace — if it deserves the name, amidst such anxiety as they daily feel — 
prevailed. But cupidity and avarice commenced their work; kidnappers 
loaded with arms started off; and oh the misery which followed in their 
train ; a few captives were obtained ; many however, preferred death. — 
The chief of one nearly desolated tribe fled with three hundred of his band; 
they ran to our Colony for relief. Their pursuers were obliged to halt in 
deep disappointment. And O, how great was the joy and gratitude of 
the chief and his friends. They have returned to tell of the kindness 
and humanity of Liberia. Eight chiefs came also " to make a book" — • 
a treaty, — offering to give up traffic in slaves entirely, and aid the Colony 
in suppressing it. Is not this Colony entitled to your sympathy and as- 
sistance? 

A few days since some messengers came here from the Colony to rep- 
resent their griefs, and enquire what could be done. Let me say, that 1 
have had much conversation with these men. Among the most intelligent 
of them was Judge Benedict — a judge of their superior court, a good law- 
yer and a sound practical man. I shall never forget the interview. He 
told me, that the colonists were strongly attached to thier republic and 
grateful for the favors it had received. But the time had now arrived 
when theirhopes were expiring; little was done for them ; other colonies 
of the French and English fared much better and found more assistance, 
and protection. Our colony seemed almost abandoned. He asked me in 
confidence, if something more could not be done. He appealed to me as a 
brother Christian to tell him plainly ; and he said that of one thing ther< 



g MR. ELLSWORTH'S APPEAL. 

was a certainty, that unless something was done speedily, other protection 
would be secured. It had been offered ; and could we, my friends, blame 
them it" they accepted it? He ardently hoped, that Liberia might be pre- 
served as an asylum for his kindred here, and that the benevolent objects 
so long cherished for a final redemption of the colored race now in the 
United States, would not be frustrated. And what could I say? lie told 
me that he wanted a frank answer. If no aid could be given, it was due 
to those who had been so long disappointed, to be informed of it. I told 
him not to despair, but to return to his friends and say to them, that the 
Committee would do all they could for them. He has returned, cheered 
by the encouragement given; and I now appear before you to fulfil my 
pledge, and appeal to your sympathies in their behalf. And I tell you, 
my friends, believe me when I say it, that if something more is not 
speedily done, the Colony will assuredly be lost to us ; and much as I be- 
lieve that this Colony is the last hope of alleviation or remedy for the evils 
which we so bitterly experience, and more especially for those which 
threaten us, I should justify them in their sad farewell. They are men; 
the ties of friendship and obligation are acknowledged ; still self-preserva- 
tion is with all, the first law of nature. Your Committee have endeavored 
to cheer and animate the colored man and prepare him for the station to 
which providence seems about to call him — the government of a free re- 
public on the shores of Africa. Death has seized on its early prey ; most 
of the white men who have had the management of a colony in Liberia — 
Ashmun, Buchanan and many others have fallen ; their labors were quickly 
over. They toiled hard and sought to accomplish much ; they have done 
much ; but theyhave gone to a better world. They have left a dying re- 
quest that we should remember their much loved colony of Liberia. On 
a leaf in Buchanan's diary is found recorded his confidence and belief 
when he went forth — " God who tempers the wind to the shorn lamb, 
ran lit my constitution to a tropical climate ; ' but though he slay me, yet 
will I trust in him.' " Shall this colony be abandoned? If the prayers 
of emancipated Africans or the prayer of the colony are insufficient to 
rouse us to effort, let me present to the patriot the hope of this country; 
our happy Union. 

The time has come when many good men doubt our continuance as an 
undivided people much longer. The tocsin is already sounded for disso- 
lution. We may desire to avoid the contemplation of the dangers which 
threaten us, but encounter them we must. The progress of civilization is 
onward; the light of liberty and emancipation has been steady and un- 
ceasing; more than half of the States have abolished slavery or laid the 
foundation for complete emancipation. Slavery lias been, it is, and ever 
will be, considered by all, with few exceptions, a dreadful evil. The sage 
of Monticello, the apostle of liberty, with his compatriots, Madison, Mar- 
shall and Monroe, and many others have already spoken. I need not 
quote passages from their writings in evidence of their views. And for 
tiles evil, what is to be the remedy ? None has been offered ai all ade- 
quate, that does not include colonization, and without, it emancipation it is 
believed by many, would prove a curse alike to the slave States themselves 
and to those States where entire lieedom prevails. Two races of men so 
distinct cannot flourish together. I speak of it as a fact. If the poor In- 
dians, our red brethren, proprietors of the soil, could not remain m the 
midst of us, how much, les^ encoui is there to expect a permanent 

residence with equal privileges for the more degraded slave To force 



MR. ELLSWORTH'S APPEAL. 9 

upon the Southern States a free colored population cannot be done ; the 
north need not expect it. Nor do the Northern States desire the free peo- 
ple of color to become citizens with them. No, my friends, no! We 
do not want them; we abhor amalgamation ; we deplore the commixture. 
We desire not our youth to grow up amid the many temptations to vice 
which such a population offers. Should emancipation become general 
without colonization ; were thousands and hundreds of thousands of slaves 
set free, scattered over our land, filling the outskirts of our villages, de- 
graded and degrading others, marked by God as a distinct race with no 
adequate human motives for elevation, they would be a prey upon the 
community. We judge from facts. I allow, indeed, there are honorable 
individual exceptions ; but human nature remains unchanged. Were 
emancipation without colonization to become general, our prisons, our 
jails, our alms-houses must all be enlarged or built anew ; our present se- 
curity would be gone ; we, too, must fortify ourselves. Talk not then of 
a general emancipation without colonization. 

I was most happy to hear our friend and early benefactor in the cause 
from Maryland (Francis S. Key, Esq.) declare what were the true inte- 
rests of Maryland. "Where" said he "the slave population on the 
northern boundaries, of the State have nearly disappeared, a dense popula- 
tion of white men has come in ; and the land has trebled in value." Let each 
State then have time to pause, reflect and leg, slate, without foreign coercion 
or intimidation. Let not the North indulge in crimination. It is their 
vessels which have transported the slave to their bondage. Well has the 
honorable senator from Virginia (Mr. Rives) told us how earnestly his 
State struggled to avert the evils she now realizes — how ardently she sup- 
plicated the mother country, England,, while a colony, to prohibit the 
importation of slaves, but England refused ; and Virginia had no alterna- 
tive. It was among those of her grievances first alledged which led to 
revolt and to independence. How eloquently, too, the honorable senator 
from Kentucky (Gov. Morehead) depicted the dangers and difficulties 
arising from slavery, and pointed to the only remedy — emancipation with 
colonization. And let me include also, the most worthy gentleman from 
the same State, (Mr. Underwood) who presided over our deliberations, 
whose heart is never closed against the sufferings of humanity, let it come 
m what shape it will. The example of the prosperity of the free States 
is argument enough, and will assuredly operate. If the Queen of the 
West, as Ohio is fitly termed, is rising in majesty and grandeur, and tilling 
up with a dense population, let it. be remembered by those who are sepa- 
rated only by the beautiful waters of the Ohio, that no physical causes 
operate to create the difference between them. Kentucky, with a milder 
climate, and a soil unsurpassed in fertility might be, would be, the prefer- 
red dwelling place to many emigrants in search of a better home. The 
census tells the whole story, and how powerful is its testimony. Leave, 
then, these facts for statesmen to ponder, let them be pondered and all will 
soon be done. Colonization, to accompany emancipation, is in my opinion 
the only reined v. 

Am I asked, 'is it practicable? Then lask in reply, Why not? The 
number of the slave population, and the impossibility of transporting them 
across the ocean is urged as an answer to this. I reply, we look to Liberia 
as located on the shores at an immense distance from us. But what is the 
fact ? We look to England as merely a pleasant sail ; the distance is not 
regarded ; a passage is made in twelve or fourteen days and tens of thou- 



10 MR. ELLSWORTH'S APPEAL 

sands pass back and forth continually. How much farther off is Liberia ? 
But about five hundred miles my friends ; if you doubt it, examine the 
chart and you will be satisfied. Are you incredulous as to the fact ? it may 
be removed most easily. 

But how, you ask, shall the emancipated be transported? This is a 
serious question. The transportation is practicable. The commerce of 
Africa is daily increasing; there are no limits to the products of her soil ; 
she grows what all nations want; soon a trade will be opened to the inte- 
rior ; an extensive market will there be furnished for our manufactures in 
i schange for her commodities. How strong, then, is the appeal to the 
friends of commerce, for a continent of 50, 0U0, 000 of inhabitants, a large 
proportion of whom will become consumers. Although the United States 
have never sought to plant colonies for the extension of our commerce, 
still if these blessings flow from the philanthropy, or I may say even neces- 
sity of establishing this colony it is certainly a most happy incident. I 
would then establish regular lines of packets, from New Orleans, Savan- 
nah, Charleston, Norfolk, and Baltimore to sail every month. I would 
freight them with emigrants and merchandize, and bring back the products 
of Africa ; and at all times it would be easy to secure a return cargo of salt 
at the Cape de Verd Islands. Such a commerce might soon support itself. 
But suppose it did not ; could we not hope for assistance from the States 
and the General Government? Is it so, that millions of acres of new land 
are given for roads and canals, and if a nation's perpetuity is at stake, if 
the happiness of millions of bondmen are suspended on the enterprise, if 
the happiness and welfare of the States themselves are so intimately con- 
nected with this object, are we not to expect and claim a pittance which 
would make the rich no poorer and the poor rich indeed ? If constitution- 
al objections are raised, let the constitution be amended to meet the emer- 
gency — all would give a hearty assent. Your Committee now find one 
of their greatest embarrassments from the uncertainty of procuring a pas- 
sage for emigrants. Very many would emancipate their slaves if there 
was a certainty of their immediate removal from this country. Emanci- 
pation is thus often delayed till the death of the owner, when large planta- 
tions including slaves are thrown into litigation. Disappointed heirs con- 
test every point ; already do we find estates bequeathed to the Society, in 
die single State of Mississippi exceeding by former appraisement over 
.$200,000. Judgment has been |Obtained, but nothing has finally been 
accomplished, and the benevolent object of the testator as yet is wholly 
thwarted. It cannot be doubted, that if regular passages could be fur- 
nished, more emigrants would be offered than could be immediately taken. 

It is said, that the climate of Liberia is sickly? I have my friends, 
carefully examined this point. I have visited many parts of Europe and this 
country, and found the same causes operating alike every where. Many 
of the ports in the West Indies are called the graves of foreigners ; the 
same is said of New Orleans, while the high lands in the neighborhood of 
the sickly parts are healthy. What is Liberia? On the coast where the 
unparalled exuberance of soil produces malaria, sickness is indeed often 
found. Happily, however, the beautiful hills, not a day's travel back from 
the coast are healthy and furnish locations for any number of settlers. 
It is here especially where the African finds health and old age. How 
many, too, of the first settlers of this country, now grown into a great nation 
were swept off by disease and the inclemency of the seasons ! Did this 



MR. ELLSWORTH'S IPPEAL. I [ 

cause them to relinquish their enterprise ? Let not then this objection be 
further raised. 

But will the people of color among us he willing to emigrate ? W 
I ask, is the burden of their request? You have heard them petition; 
many such entreaties may be found on our files; the Committee cannot 
meet the present emergency. We believe that ten thousand would soon be 
offered if you would provide for them. What! will not Africans return to 
their native land ? Will not those who now find so little sympathy, and 
who can never here rise to an equality, embrace the offer, when they know 
that they must remain a degraded race if they continue here ? Will 
they not emigrate and bless the benefactors who shall speed them on 
their happy way ? Make, my friends, the Colony what it may be ; offer a 
home where the emancipated slave may breathe a freer air, and will he 
choose to remain longer among us ? No, indeed ! What Douglass has so 
beautifully said of his countrymen who press to these happy shores, may 
well be applied to this exiled race, in reference to Africa : " America,'' 
says he, " is to modern Europe what the Western Isles were to ancient 
Greece — the land of aspirations and dreams, the country of during enter- 
prise and the asylum of misfortune, which receives alike the exile and the 
adventurer — the discontented and the aspiring, and promises all a freer life 
and fresher nature. Hordes of emigrants are continually swarming off as 
ceaseless in the pursuit, and crowded and unreturning as travelers to eter- 
nity. Even those who are forced to remain behind feel a melancholy rest- 
lessness like a bird whose wing is crippled at the time of migration, and look 
forward to America as the land of the departed, where every one has some 
near relative or dear friend who has gone before him. A voice like that 
heard before the final ruin of Jerusalem seems to whisper to those who 
have ears to hear, ' Let us depart hence.' " May 1 add the testimony 
of one who is deeply affected by the prospect of the African in our land. 
He is an old navigator ; many a time has he doubled the Cape of Good 
Hope. He believes the proposed scheme of Colonization a practical rem- 
edy for all our evils. And though he now enjoys a good situation, and 
home is endeared to him by the strongest ties, yet he would embark in this 
glorious cause, and take command of a packet for Liberia, such as has been 
mentioned. There is then hope amounting even to assurance. Let us not 
despair ; but take courage. 

But lately, a reverend clergymen now employed to teach 300 slaves, re- 
lated to me the following incident, illustrative of the power of conscience 
over the slave-holder : The master is a benevolent man, but is a disbeliever 
in Christianity, and he said, " I doubt as to future existence, 1 may, how- 
ever, be mistaken, and if so what a dreadful load of responsibility rests on 
me. These immortal beings, in that case, are destined with myself to a long- 
eternity; all the preparation that can be made must be made here. I will 
not, I dare not, refuse to teach my slaves the doctrines of the Christian re- 
ligion as you understand it. Come then and teach them religion, and if 
you are engaged on the Sabbath come on any day of the week. Take, it 
you choose, the best day and the best hours; 1 .Most of these slaves, 1 
trust, will soon find a home in Liberia. 

The question perhaps will here be asked, Are Africans capable of self-gov- 
ernment based upon the republican principle ? To this I reply, moral not 
physical causes make the great distinctions of society among a homogeneous 
population. All are made in the image of God, and fitted to be temples for 
the Holy Spirit to dwell in. Color or complexion has little to do with the 
elevation of the human mind, unless the subject is placed under unpropitious 



12 



MR. ELLSWORTH'S APPEAL 



influences, is degraded by his station, and checked in all his hopes of ad- 
vancement. 

Look for example at our red brethren . While surrounded here by while 
men who arc educated in ihc arts and sciences, claiming and exercising a 
superiority, how degraded docs the Indian appear ! His hopes all stifled, 
he seeks sensual gratification only. But look at him in his new home at 
the West. There he becomes instantly and truly a man ; the powers and 
emoluments of office are his, and his alone. Property is protected and 
brings influence ; he rises daily in his own estimation as well as in that of 
others. Good laws, order, industry, in short, all that adorns and endears 
life are his. So of the African ; place him under equal advantages. Take 
the young man before the mind is stinted by discouragement, or the physi- 
cal constitution enfeebled by the burdens he is forced to carry. Take him 
and instruct him; let him anticipate all that acquirements, and industry, 
and courage can secure for the white man, and you will find him no wise 
inferior. At this moment the Governor of our Colony in Liberia, (Gov. 
Roberts,) a person of color, is an ornament to the station ; a good belles 
lettres scholar ; a diplomatist not surpassed by many white men of the 
present age. His late correspondence with the commander of Her Bri- 
tanic Majesty's ships on the coast of Africa, who claim certain rights there 
within the limits of our Colony, would do honor even to the distinguished 
statesman who now fills the responsible chair of the Stale Department in 
this country. No one, I am sure, can read that correspondence without 
feelings of strong and proud satisfaction. 

But besides emancipated Africans, our Colony, and these United States, 
there is, my friends, another class of persons who claim' our attention in 
deciding this great question. Africa — benighted Africa ! I refer not now 
to her advancement in Christianity, but barely to her civilization, to her 
unprovement in agriculture and the arts. We may hope in vain for 
this improvement until peace is there established. Security to property 
must precede expenditures of capital or labor. The mind must be made 
free from the painful apprehension, that the family may he captured 
while the husband and the father are toiling in the field. While the interioi 
of Africa is convulsed by intestine wars, not for revenge, but from cupidity 
fo obtain human beings upon which to traffic, no amelioration of condition 
can be expected. Theory itself would teach us this. But, my friends, I have 
Avitnesscd it all in part in the case of the poor Indian. I have seen the 
savage exhausted with fatigue, sleeping on his shield, with his bow and 
arrow in one hand and the war horse fastened to the other by the same 
lasso with which he was caught, and when I awaked him and asked him 
to " bore out his ears" to hear my talk, he replied : " The track of the 
enemy is fresh; look at it; my warriors have fallen ; they call upon me 
for scalps to hang on their graves. I go now to war — when peace is made 
— when we smoke together, then l.will hear you ; then I. will plant corn." 
Yes, my friends, peace must be restored, the horrid slave traffic must 
cease, before Africa can be civilized ; and here let me advert for a moment 
to this great, all absorbing topic. 

The slave trade ! mankind condemn it ; it has ever been a horrible sys- 
tem, yea even a crime, and has robbed one continent of much of her pop- 
ulation, while at the same time it entailed misery upon all who have 
become connected with it. I said it. has hern a crime, what is it now? 
is it over? Oh, no, my friends, would to God that it were ! What, how- 
ever, is the fact ? £rom the best data, from evidence laid before a 



MR. ELLSWORTH'S APPEAL 13 

Committee ot the British Parliament, and by them published to the 
world, it appears that not less than 500,000 human beings in Africa 
fall annually victims to this traffic. Some perish in capture, some in the 
middle passage, and some drag out existence in captivity. Yes, 1700 
daily. I am wrong; I have not included the Sabbath — there is no day of 
rest for the slave dealer ; he stops not in his cruel career — he has no Sab- 
bath. The laws of God and man he regards as naught. 

Every day in the year he numbers his victims ; it is then 1400 daily. 
This cause alone has probably already swept off from Africa a far larger 
number of her children than the whole population of every description in 
these United States. What an amount of wretchedness and woe. Do you 
doubt it ? What will persuade you ? Call upon the mighty deep to give 
up her dead ; call upon those for witness, unsepulchred in the middle pas- 
sage. The trumpet will one day sound and these must appear as dreaded 
witneses against those who have murdered them there. Ask them whence 
they came ; they will tell you, how they were torn from all they loved, 
how greatly they have suffered, how they were manacled and bruised, how 
thousands were engulphcd in a single hour to lighten the ships so hotly 
pursued. Hear their separate stories : Oh hear the female captive relate 
her sad tale of woe and Jiow gladly she embraced the messenger of death 
which consigned her body to a watery grave, and bore her spirit to a just 
and merciful, but till then, an unknown God. Yes ! the grave for once is 
satisfied — it has enongh : hear the deep itself exclaim in the hoarse echo 
of its loud roar, Cruel monster ! s$ay thy hand, crowd me not further ; I am 
already full. Pardon my feelings on this subject. Can man be indifferent 
to the accumulated woes of a whole continent ? Make the ca.se your own 
Suppose a ship from Africa was to heave in sight in the Potomac ;. notice 
was given for a cargo of slaves, and a high price offered; your relatives, 
your wives and your children, carried into captivity. Oh, then your lamen- 
tations and woe ! nor could you cease to weep, thinking of the loved ones 
torn from you — gone forever. What is the difference in the two cases: 
simply that in this case, it is the African ship that has made reprisals to sup- 
ply the ravages which the ships under your flag are daily making. Yes 
my friends, ships protected by your flag. Oh that foul blot which stains 
our national banner ! Tell me not here of dignity and national honor ! Did 
the track of the enemy lead to your dwellings, had you already lost a part 
of your children by plunder and robbery, would you, sutler to pass one that 
was suspected and who was apparently making another approach for the re- 
mainder? would you not enquire his name and business, or would you let 
him pass lest you might injure his feelings, by showing suspicion; especi- 
ally if he bore any peculiar insignia or carried a certain flag ? No you would 
examine him, perhaps find him loaded with manacles for your family. I love 
my country's honor; I would not submit to search and imprisonment of her 
seamen, but I would most cheerfully grant on the suspected coast a recipro- 
cal examination : this boasted land of freedom has applied again and again 
to foreign nations to aid in suppressing the slave trade. We have been the 
first to call it Piracy, and punish it with death. And now when the nations 
of Europe respond Amen, let it cease ; when they do all that we have asked 
or desired, shall we hold back ? If we do so, let those who suffer the con- 
sequences claim not from an injured world the sympathy and forgiveness 
they may yet need. Let us rather as a nation follow the example of this 
Society, — line the coast of Africa with colonies ; these will be perpetual 
barriers- againsl ilir slave dealer. It is as easy to transport thousands to 



f ■ 

H MR. ELLSWORTH'S APPEAL. 

>m as it is to hurry off yearly 500,000 to death and captivity. A few 
years only would accomplish the whole work, were the heart of the people 
given to it. How much better such a preventive, such a remedy, than 
ships of war whose presence, is transient and which still afford oppor- 
tunity to elude their vigilance. 

And what would be the moral change on the coast? Good markets 
for commerce for the interior ; no longer would cupidity and avarice bring 
the price of blood to purchase the comforts of life. Human hearts would 
still be given ; but only in exchange for the blessings of that holy religion 
which is offered without money and without price — a purchase above 
all value — temporal and eternal joys. 

I have perhaps my friends detained you too long. Our meeting will soon 
be closed. You will pursue your wonted vocations and your Committee 
will return again to their duty. The question now is, Shall they have 
your advice and assistance ? will you share in their burdens ? Do you say 
the times are hard ? Is money scarce ? Think my friends that the expense of 
a single public dinner or dance in compliment only to but one of your fellow 
men has cost more than would relieve our present emergency. Yes the 
collection for admission at the race ground this past week, for the privilege 
of seeing what man with whip and spur can make a poor animal do, would 
carry the needy Africans now at Norfolk, to their Tatherland. The amount 
paid a foriegn dancer for an exhibition of herself among us, would furnish 
ample means to cheer the hearts of our desponding Colony — and shall 
the Committee cease to urge their plea ? But I must close. 

Yet before I set down, let me ask, my Christian friends, why it is, that 
the white man dies so soon in Africa? why too does the emancipated Afri- 
can die so soon at the north ? why does he find no resting place here ? Is 
not the finger of God visible in this ? Africa must be regenerated. The 
colored man is fitted for that climate ; God has made it his peculiar land ; 
it is his home. And now should the bondman find his body freed, his sins 
forgiven, his mind enlightened, he will return to idolatrous Africa, with 
the injunction of his Divine Master; and may we not hope that a happy 
day is soon to dawn on that long abused, benighted peaple. You and I 
cannot go to teach them, our lives would soon be sacrificed, but we can 
send him and shall he not go ? My friends I come not a beggar for your 
charity ; you know your duty- — consult your own conciences. Take the 
subject, fellow Christians, to your closets and there inquire of God who 
seeth our hearts what you ought to do. Our talents are borrowed ; we 
are only stewards, and shall soon be called to our final account. We are 
debtors and no credit can be entered for us beyond the grave. If we look 
on our estates, we cannot regard them in fee simple to us and our hens 
forever. God has written on our titles, a stewardship only — a tenantry at 
will. Riches take to themselves wings and fly away. What was called 
ours yesterday is another's to-day — to-morrow it may be still another's. 
Happy for us that " we need but little here, nor need that little long." I 
said 1 came not before you a beggar ; I will however implore for our poor 
co l ny — for wretched Africa, for her sons and daughters wherever they 
may be, for our poor Society, and for your humble Committee whose hearts 
are wrung from day to day by the urgency of the miserable and wretched^ I 
will and do implore what you can so easily bestow, and what I know you 
will not" withhold — your prayers. 



LBAg12 



